The steps I take for setting up a computer with Mac OS X

newcomputer.md

System settings

1. Run Software Update
2. Disable "natural" scrolling
3. Enable two-finger right click
4. Increase trackpad tracking speed
5. Map Control to the Caps Lock key
6. Change Spotlight shortcut to Option + Space
7. Disable auto-dimming in Energy Saver and increase sleep times
8. Remove Bluetooth and Time Machine from menu bar
9. Clear out the dock
10. Clean up finder window sidebar
11. Turn on dock auto-hiding and magnification
12. Change default Finder sorting to sort by name
13. Snap desktop items to grid

Command Line tools

1. Download Command Line Tools for XCode for installing various packages without waiting for the full XCode download.

2. Install development toolset from the Laptop script:

    curl -Os https://raw.github.com/molawson/laptop/master/mac ; bash mac
   

3. Install my dotfiles

    cd ~
    git clone http://github.com/molawson/dotfiles.git ~/.dotfiles
    cd ~/.dotfiles
    rake install
   

4. Install vim plugins

    cd ~/.dotfiles
    git submodule init
    git submodule update
   
    # create temp directory for vim swap files
    mkdir -p ~/.vim/tmp
   

5. Setup OSX defaults

    cd ~
    bash .osx
   

Apps

1. Download apps that aren't in the App Store or were purchased elsewhere via the Laptop Apps script:

    curl -Os https://raw.github.com/molawson/laptop-apps/master/apps ; bash apps
   

2. Change Alfred keyboard shortcut to Command + Space

3. Install Clean theme for Alfred

4. Download and install more apps from the App Store:

• Aperture
• Cloud
• ColorSnapper
• Day One
• Evernote
• Fantastical
• Flint
• iA Writer
• Reeder
• Sparrow
• XCode

5. Install Adobe Creative Suite
6. Setup Sparrow
7. Setup Google, iCloud, and work accounts in Mail, Contacts, & Calendars
8. Setup Google Chrome to sync everything
9. Install extra fonts from Dropbox folder
10. Download and install iTerm2
11. Download and install Tomorrow theme presets for iTerm2
12. Setup iTerm profiles

• Hotkey - ^`
• Text - 12pt Menlo, Anti-aliased, Bold font, Bright colors
• Window - fill screen, 85% opaque
• Color - Tomorrow Night, Smart cursor color

13. Download and install Logitech Control Center
14. Setup CrashPlan
15. Setup Carbon Copy Cloner
16. Setup Spaces

Have you considered brew-cask for GUI apps?

Then it's as simple as brew cask install dropbox